The Dew Breaker

by

Edwidge Danticat

Anne Bienaimé/Landlady Character Analysis

Anne is Papa’s wife and Ka’s mother. Born in Haiti, she is epileptic, and when she was young her three-year-old brother drowned in the sea while she was having a fit (and thus she could not save him). This incident haunts her for the rest of her life, leading her to have a superstitious relationship with cemeteries. Her other brother, the preacher (technically her stepbrother) is killed by Papa after being taken to prison for this politically subversive sermons. A devout Catholic, Anne struggles to reconcile her faith with her relationship with Papa (although the fact that Papa initially lied to her and pretended to be a victim of the dictatorship arguably means she has diminished responsibility for choosing to be with him). A beautician, Anne has no friends in New York, and thus her life revolves around Papa and Ka. Over time, Anne comes to regret the extreme isolation and secrecy that have characterized her life in New York, and considers becoming more open and social. However, soon her paranoia over people discovering Papa’s identity returns, and she worries that she might even have to give up attending Midnight Mass (her favorite tradition) in order to keep it secret. She rents out rooms in her house to Eric, Michel, and Dany, and in some stories she is known simply as “the landlady.”

Anne Bienaimé/Landlady Quotes in The Dew Breaker

The The Dew Breaker quotes below are all either spoken by Anne Bienaimé/Landlady or refer to Anne Bienaimé/Landlady. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Grief, Memory, and Erasure Theme Icon
).
The Book of the Dead Quotes

I was born and raised in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and have never even been to my parents' birthplace. Still, I answer “Haiti” because it is one more thing I've always longed to have in common with my parents.

Related Characters: Ka Bienaimé (speaker), Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

My father has never liked having his picture taken. We have only a few of him at home, some awkward shots at my different school graduations, with him standing between my mother and me, his hand covering his scar. I had hoped to take some pictures of him on this trip, but he hadn't let me. At one of the rest stops I bought a disposable camera and pointed it at him anyway. As usual, he protested, covering his face with both hands like a little boy protecting his cheeks from a slap. He didn't want any more pictures taken of him for the rest of his life, he said, he was feeling too ugly.

Related Characters: Ka Bienaimé (speaker), Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady
Related Symbols: Papa’s Scar
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
The Book of Miracles Quotes

Anne had closed her eyes without realizing it. Her daughter knew she reacted strongly to cemeteries, but Anne bad never told her why, since her daughter had already concluded early in life that this, like many unexplained aspects of her parents’ life, was connected to “some event that happened in Haiti.”

Related Characters: Ka Bienaimé, Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:

Besides, soon after her husband had opened his barbershop, he’d discovered that since he'd lost eighty pounds, changed his name, and given as his place of birth a village deep in the mountains of Leogane, no one asked about him anymore, thinking he was just a peasant who'd made good in New York. He hadn't been a famous “dew breaker,” or torturer, anyway, just one of hundreds who had done their jobs so well that their victims were never able to speak of them again.

Related Characters: Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady
Page Number: 76-77
Explanation and Analysis:

What if it were Constant? What would she do? Would she spit in his face or embrace him, acknowledging a kinship of shame and guilt that she'd inherited by marrying her husband? How would she even know whether Constant felt any guilt or shame? What if he'd come to this Mass to flaunt his freedom? To taunt those who'd been affected by his crimes? What if he didn't even see it that way? What if he considered himself innocent? Innocent enough to go anywhere he pleased? What right did she have to judge him? As a devout Catholic and the wife of a man like her husband, she didn't have the same freedom to condemn as her daughter did.

Related Characters: Ka Bienaimé, Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady, Emmanuel Constant
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:
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Anne Bienaimé/Landlady Quotes in The Dew Breaker

The The Dew Breaker quotes below are all either spoken by Anne Bienaimé/Landlady or refer to Anne Bienaimé/Landlady. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Grief, Memory, and Erasure Theme Icon
).
The Book of the Dead Quotes

I was born and raised in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and have never even been to my parents' birthplace. Still, I answer “Haiti” because it is one more thing I've always longed to have in common with my parents.

Related Characters: Ka Bienaimé (speaker), Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

My father has never liked having his picture taken. We have only a few of him at home, some awkward shots at my different school graduations, with him standing between my mother and me, his hand covering his scar. I had hoped to take some pictures of him on this trip, but he hadn't let me. At one of the rest stops I bought a disposable camera and pointed it at him anyway. As usual, he protested, covering his face with both hands like a little boy protecting his cheeks from a slap. He didn't want any more pictures taken of him for the rest of his life, he said, he was feeling too ugly.

Related Characters: Ka Bienaimé (speaker), Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady
Related Symbols: Papa’s Scar
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
The Book of Miracles Quotes

Anne had closed her eyes without realizing it. Her daughter knew she reacted strongly to cemeteries, but Anne bad never told her why, since her daughter had already concluded early in life that this, like many unexplained aspects of her parents’ life, was connected to “some event that happened in Haiti.”

Related Characters: Ka Bienaimé, Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:

Besides, soon after her husband had opened his barbershop, he’d discovered that since he'd lost eighty pounds, changed his name, and given as his place of birth a village deep in the mountains of Leogane, no one asked about him anymore, thinking he was just a peasant who'd made good in New York. He hadn't been a famous “dew breaker,” or torturer, anyway, just one of hundreds who had done their jobs so well that their victims were never able to speak of them again.

Related Characters: Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady
Page Number: 76-77
Explanation and Analysis:

What if it were Constant? What would she do? Would she spit in his face or embrace him, acknowledging a kinship of shame and guilt that she'd inherited by marrying her husband? How would she even know whether Constant felt any guilt or shame? What if he'd come to this Mass to flaunt his freedom? To taunt those who'd been affected by his crimes? What if he didn't even see it that way? What if he considered himself innocent? Innocent enough to go anywhere he pleased? What right did she have to judge him? As a devout Catholic and the wife of a man like her husband, she didn't have the same freedom to condemn as her daughter did.

Related Characters: Ka Bienaimé, Papa , Anne Bienaimé/Landlady, Emmanuel Constant
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis: